Dear Chancellor Wise, Since it was posted on Aug 7, the online petition in support of Professor Steven Salaita has reached 13,121 supporters as of this Monday morning (August 11). These thousands of people from all over the world are waiting to hear from you. Here are a few comments from the signatories on a theme expressed as follows by Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American legal scholar of the Middle East and a rising scholar herself: "Opponents to Palestinian freedom, liberty, & dignity have made a policy of censoring & punishing scholars who dare to speak on Palestine. Supporting Steven Salaita is also about resisting entrenched practice in academia that has harassed/stifled scholars for decades. The controversy is over truth-telling about Israel and it is constructed & punished as heretic by ardent pro-Israelis." This theme is echoed by numerous commentators. Here is a small selection: Ru Freeman BALA, CYNWYD, PA America's silence on Palestine is finally being broken. Does UIUC really want to be bringing up the rear on progress? Do your alum want you to be at the forefront of political change, or dragging your feet? Benay Blend ALBUQUERQUE I am an adjunct at Central NM community College. I have also been called to task for supporting Palestinian rights. Universities and colleges are a bastion of free speech, not the opposite. Unless that speech is hate speech, there is absolutely no right to censor according to the political preferences of the administrators. Tracy Feldman STEVENS POINT, WI I am a professor and a Jew, and I am critical of Israel. Should I fear losing my job as well? pauline lipman CHICAGO, IL As a Jew I am appalled at the Israeli destruction of Gaza. This is but the latest horrific continuation of the siege faced by the Palestinian people since 1948. As a professor, I am outraged that the University of Illinois would use McCarthy style tactics to silence Prof. Salaita's righteous expression of outrage at Israel's brutal massacre of Gaza. T Jeffries BEND, OK Stop kowtowing to the bloody, illegal Iraeli junta and practice professionalism, democracy, justice, academic freedom. Or, are you getting too much $$ from the regime you can´t turn down? Luke Darrian DEARBORN, MI The defense of the israeli occupier is the last allowable and politically correct vestige of racism and colonialism in the United States where illegal and immoral criminal actions of the Israeli occupier apparatus are defended in all levels of our society including academia. Unfortunately, our academia was unable to recognize the humanity of the black african slave or the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. By the firing of this professor you are endorsing the past, not only by refusing to learn from it but actually celebrating it by doing exactly the same thing. One day people will look back at shock and awe and ask "how did people allow this to happen?" As an academic instituation, your university should stand up against bigotry, racism, dehumanization and colonialism. This move of firing a professor for his defense of the helpless and defenseless Palestinians will go down in history of your university being on the losing side of history (as were the supporters of apartheid in South Africa) and will result in a boycott campaign against your racist university. I feel it would be wise for you to stand up for justice and reinstate this professor before your school becomes publicized for this unethical move. Waiting for you to reverse your peremptory decision as soon as possible. Sincerely,